Martinsburg daily gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1887-1887, 1887-07-09
SATURDAY. JULY 8, 1887.
CR0QUET AS A SCIENCE.


4 GAME FOR EXPERTS AND NOT FOR
CHILDREN AND PARSONS ONLY.
rho Modern Croquet Ground Made Of
Dirt Rolled Hard and Level-Hits Hard
to Make-Few Ladies' Attempt scien-
tific Play.
Even as set up on ordinary lawns, with
arches six inches wide, croquet is d game
chat requires an amount of headWOrk
fully as great as is needed to play good
game of billiards. IA man who is q very
ordinary shot can win trombone who hits
with great accuracy If his headwork is de.
cidedly superior. OF course, / am talking
now about tile four bah game; the game
with one ball apiece is to the other what
euchre is to whist.
If these things are true OF the game as
ordinarily laid out, they are multiplied In
force many times when the ground is q
perfectly level sanded dirt floor, when the
arches are only one-fourth of an inch
wider than the balls, and when both play
ers arc skillful enough to hit an exposed
ball from end to end Of the ground and to
hide their atlversary's ball behind =
wicket with great accuracy.
The modern croquet ground Is made OF
dirt rolled as hard as need be and made as
level as q billiard table. 1t is surrounded
by d slightly raised border, SO that balls
do not 90 out of bounds. To prevent roll
ing the surface is sanded slightly. The
wickets are set firmly in block Of wood
planted ten inches deep In the ground,
and are of thick enough wire to resist
heavy blow The balls are OF hard rubber,
B IA inches in diameter The Wlckets are
8 Ia inches inside measurement. The
mallets may be Of any pattern OF size that
suits the fancy Of the player, but the most
approved style is one with head ten
inches long, having hard rubber ends Sc
cured by steel band, and with handle
about fourteen inches long and rough
ened SO as to secure the grip. Inc pest
Of them screw into the head and are per
fectly round The ground is laid out
with wo stakes of iron less than an inch
IN dis meter. two wickets at each end and
two On each side, in a line with the second
arch from the stake and with a double
middle wicket set cros5Wise. This middle
wicket consists of two arches like the rest,
Joined over the top and about nfteen
inches apart. The ball must be sent
through both Of these at single shot
The only way to do this, with fair pros
pect of success, is to take roquet from 9
ball 4 short distance from the arch ana
oct IN the laws Of the first OF the pair OF
wickets and at the next blow go through
: them both.
\ HARD TO ACCOMPLISH.
TO get in position in any other way Is
next to impossible, because II the center
Of the ball is as much as q sixteenth OF an
incA to one side Of a line drawn dlrecuy
through the center Of both wickets you
cannot 20 through without carrom, anu
carrons. in croquet, are mighty uncertain
thinps for most people to try. PROFESSOR
CharIes .Jacobus, of New Brunswick, can
mako the shot / have described at the
center wicket, and he introduced " Win
oreat success ii last yeats national tour
nament At Norwich. It IL now called
aftar hiYn-the Jacobus shot. a year OF
two before that. while he was living az
Matawan. Ne introduced another carrom,
Witch has since been called the 'MaIaWan
trr,st.,i His adversary's ball was N the
acosya u ~ the double center wicket V
caIIed his own was on the other siue o.
tha ce,,.,,a,. wicket. almost in the jaws o.
= a,,d directly wired from the ball IN the
h 49, ard frn,n the other balls. MI. ia
cs,S,,s s- strr,ck the further wire Of the cor
( 49,. ,.,;cl-at carromed from It, going
49,, ~ ti,a arch. and hit the ball resting
..-;ts, s,,ch anDarent security In the cage.
:. !. 80 offen. however, that games are
.t - s,,ch sensational shots II Is
steady accurate play and good MANAGE.